Search - Twinspirits :: The Music That Will Heal the World

More Italian prog metal...

Murat Batmaz | Istanbul, Turkey | 09/22/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Twinspirits is yet another band from Italian keyboard player Daniele Liverani, mostly known for his work with Empty Tremor and Genius A Rock Opera. He also engaged in a more AOR-styled band called Khymera with drummer Dario Ciccioni who also did the drumming on the Genius albums. Khymera guitarist Tommy Ermolli handles the guitar work, displaying a rather different side of his playing; and on bass there is Alberto Rigoni known from a successful Dream Theater tribute band in Italy. The last member to enter the band was Danish singer Soren Adamsen.



Liverani not only wrote all songs but he also produced the album. However, despite engaging himself in various bands, it seems his songwriting ability rarely changes, if at all. Twinspirits' main problem seems to lie in the contrived vocal melodies. Since Adamsen did not write his own lyrics or melodies but just filled in to relay them as best as possible, he seems to strain a bit on some of the songs. Also, this is the first time he is singing for a progressive metal band. His other bands, Maladaptive and Crystal Eyes, are both straightforward heavy metal groups; he mostly opts for a Bruce Dickinson style of singing -- and while he is a good singer, he certainly is not as diverse a frontman as a prog vocalist should be.



Here is a rundown on some of the vocal stylings employed by Adamsen. He goes for a clean, powerful style on "Understand", recalling Urban Breed circa Tad Morose's Undead for its constantly heavy rhythm guitars. The vocal melodies on "Back to Reality" are much more fitting, so he does a better job at it. This is a fast song with stomping bass and drum battery and a punishing keyboard solo. However, Liverani's choice of tone on this one is truly questionable. Very rough and screechy for a melodic metal number. "Power to Kill" is the worst song. Strictly one-dimensional, this one sees him trying to sound aggressive and rough, but his range doesn't really allow him to shine as the average power metal singer. With lots of double bass drums and repeated guitar crunch, the song still boasts a nice bass arrangement and some pummelling rhythm work, particularly in the beginning.



Tommy Ermolli is definitely a talented guitar player, as he proves he can employ both aggressive and melodic playing depending on the flow of the song. He shreds hard on the instrumental number "Projected", wrapping melodic lines around Liverani's involved guitar work while he pays tribute to the great Pink Floyd on "What You Want", the best song on the CD. The moody synth work, the dark acoustic guitars, and the moving vocals evoke Dream Theater's "Peruvian Skies". It would be cool if Liverani could move into uncharted territory and experiment with more ideas in this vein rather than playing out similar music under different monikers.



"Fire" is more like a hard rock song with Jorn Lande on vocals. Even the guitar work is bluesy at times, lending it a cool feel. Unfortunately, as is the case with most of these songs, there is too much singing here leaving little room for the rest of the band to actually blossom into something interesting. The music on the title track is quite interesting, with strong vocal lines and tight rhythm workout, but too much repetition prevents it from being a really good song.



As much as I respect Daniele Liverani and his argument that he started Twinspirits in order to make a new statement, I fail to see how the music here really differs from his work with Empty Tremor, especially their album The Alien Inside. While this one is less Dream Theater-inspired and contains fewer guitar and keyboard trade-offs, most of the songs are based around a similar formula with little or no novelty.



It would be understandable if this were Liverani's first album, but no, he has been involved close to a dozen records if not more. He should seriously consider getting songwriting input from his band mates or take more time writing more unique compositions. Otherwise, I'm afraid, he will never really develop his own voice."